Post-Doctoral Research Scientists in Impact Evaluation

Country: Kenya

Organization: African Population and Health Research Center

Closing date: 31 Dec 2022

The African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) is an African-led and Africa-based international research institution committed to conducting high-quality and policy-relevant multidisciplinary research. Our goal is to generate evidence for meaningful action, engage with policy makers in the region to disseminate our research findings, influence policy decisions, and improve the quality of life in Africa. APHRC’s Data, Science, and Evaluation (DSE) Program conducts impact evaluation assignments for several partners at sub-national and national levels from across sub-Saharan Africa, with focus on social sciences within the human development, health and Wellbeing, and population dynamics and urbanization thematic areas.

To this end, APHRC seeks to recruit three (3) Post-Doctoral Research Scientists in Impact Evaluation to support the evaluation activities at the Center.

Duties/Responsibilities

The Post- Doctoral Research Scientists will apply novel basic and advanced rigorous impact evaluation methodologies to design and conduct impact evaluation undertakings within and beyond the APHRC.

Technical leadership and support

• Leading the design and implementation of development-related impact evaluations and research studies;


• Support researchers at the Center in adoption of impact evaluation designs in research studies including complex impact evaluations based on modern practices such as Interrupted Time Series (ITS), Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), cluster-randomized designs, step-wedge designs among others;


• Develop and deepen innovative approaches to impact evaluation e.g., through training of researchers at the Center in IE methodology, developing and writing papers that utilize IE methodologies in peer-reviewed journals, engaging with IE communities of practice to strengthen the Center’s visibility in IE practice, etc.

Fundraising for IE sustainability

• Lead the resource mobilization for IE projects to ensure that the Center sustain its IE mandate to the foreseeable future;


• Support proposal writing and other fundraising activities geared towards leveraging funds to broaden the current mandate of the Data, Science & Evaluation Program;


• Actively collaborate with and contribute to the work of other Program Areas at APHRC at the Centre’s to strengthen the impact evaluation mandate.

Management of Impact Evaluation Projects

• Establish, monitor, and update work plans and budgets for Impact Evaluation projects;


• Oversee mobilization of evaluation teams, including organizing and managing team planning meetings and overseeing all necessary logistical preparations for field data collection;


• Identify, recruit and train the research assistants; support teams technically; assist in orienting consultant team members to procedures for working with APHRC;


• Assure high-quality deliverables and evaluation reports;


• Support development of IEs including background and supporting research for ongoing/upcoming IEs and oversight of survey development;


• Manage IE datasets throughout the evaluation life-cycle from coordination of local data collection partners to data management and cleaning to preliminary analysis;


• Serve as a responsive point of contact for clients, ensure contract compliance, and support contract reporting requirements;


• Support the impact evaluation team to develop, review and finalize evaluation analysis plans, evaluation frameworks, and contribute to drafting of work plans, data collection tools, and field monitoring tools for each IE activity;


• Work with Project Evaluation Team to provide timely updates and reports on evaluation activities as needed;


• Participate and/or support the dissemination of findings;


• Carry out any other functions that may be assigned to you from time to time by Senior Management at the Centre.

Qualifications, Skills, and Experience

• PhD in Economics, Public Health, Epidemiology, Statistics, Health Economics, Population and Reproductive Health, Development Economics/Politics or Public Policy and other related disciplines, with specialization in Impact Evaluation of development projects, preferably public health.


• Advanced skills in econometrics/statistics, quantitative methods, and qualitative methods.


• Ability to conduct large-scale surveys in developing countries and handle large datasets using standard econometric statistical software programs (STATA, SAS, R, Python, etc.).


• At least 3 years of work experience in project evaluation and impact analysis is essential.


• Demonstrated experience in in-depth impact analysis methods, and experimental and quasi-experimental methods applied in impact evaluation (RCT, Instrumental Variable regression, propensity score analysis, and interrupted time series, etc.).


• Experience designing and implementing one or more of the following: implementation research, process evaluations, formative/process/summative research, qualitative and mixed-methods research.


• At least two (2) publications or technical reports (or a doctoral research thesis) that utilized IE methodologies/approaches.


• Excellent written, presentation, and communication skills; ability to present arguments and analysis in a structured and succinct manner.


• Strong quantitative skills and ability to work with large data sets.


• Ability to work independently; self-starter and highly motivated.


• Strong theoretical and applied statistical knowledge in particular for the design of IEs.


• Proficiency in English language is required.


• Working knowledge of East, Southern, Northern, and West African regions is desirable.


• Experience in simulation and optimization modelling, and economic evaluations is a plus.

This position is classified under Internationally Recruited Positions (IRP), Grade VI in our scales.

How to apply

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application in English, and include:

1. A letter of application;


2. A statement of research interests and goals (1-2 pages); and


3. CV with contact details of three referees

through our recruitment portal https://aphrc.org/vacancies/. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis until the positions are filled.Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted. Shortlisted candidates will be required to have a Police Clearance Certificate. Cover letters should be addressed to:

The Human Resources Officer

African Population and Health Research Center, Inc

APHRC Campus, Manga Close, off Kirawa Road, Kitisuru

P. O. Box 10787-GPO, Nairobi

Website: www.aphrc.org

APHRC is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to the protection of vulnerable persons